Then I got my super duper high powered Froothie Optimum 9400 blender and it claimed that it could “heat soups and freeze ice cream quicker than any other blender”. Yay, thought I, and I went looking for blender ice cream recipes.

I couldn’t find any! Well, none that didn’t include a silly quantity of sweetened condensed milk, or double cream, or a truck load of refined sugar.

So I made one.

Not that I have anything against sweetened condensed milk, double cream or a truck load of sugar – it’s just my blender is like a sacred temple. I’ve had it for some weeks now and I haven’t made anything non-vegan in it yet. It just seems wrong, the idea of putting anything non plant based in my lovely new blender.

The Optimum 9400 blender by Froothie can blend paving stones. Honestly – there’s a video of it here. So based on this the first time I made this vegan strawberry vanilla bean coconut ice I plonked all the frozen vanilla-infused coconut milk in the blender along with all the whole frozen Scottish strawberries and the maple syrup.

And I blended.

Word of advice – don’t do that.

Things were going well for a few minutes until all of a sudden the machine stopped working. Just… nothing… nothing but a beep and the disturbing scent of hot.

With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach I was convinced I’d broken my brand new Froothie Optimum 9400 a matter of weeks after getting it.

Patiently Anxiously I waited fretted and about five minutes later I thought I’d try the blender again – and it worked! I’d just over heated it, tripping the fail-safe shut down switch (how awesome is that – the Optimum 9400’s motor has an overload protection fault switch, ensuring that the motor is protected against overload damage!) Using short bursts of blending and using the tamper tool I finished making the frozen treat.

It was devoured, entirely, within minutes. My children had friends visiting and between us and them the entire jug was emptied in moments, with some of the children asking for thirds.

My husband declared that this was the best ice cream I have ever, ever made.

So I wanted to share the recipe with you all, but with a revised method, so you too don’t over heat your blender!

This vegan strawberry vanilla bean coconut ice is not quite an ice cream – it doesn’t have the fatty creaminess of an ice cream, but it’s creamier than a sorbet. It’s sort of half way between the two – refreshing, delicately flavoured and ideal for those hot summer days (ok, not so much the end of September in the UK – but still!).

Ingredients

Instructions

Pour 200 ml of the coconut milk into a shallow ice cube tray and place in the freezer for a few hours until solid.

Meanwhile, scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and stir them into the remaining 200 ml coconut milk. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until needed.

Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them into quarters and freeze until solid.

Place the frozen coconut milk, vanilla-infused coconut milk and maple syrup into a high powered blender jug. Blend in 20 second increments, starting on low and then switching up to 8 using the tamper to scrape down the side.

When it starts to form a thick ice add the chopped, frozen strawberries and continue to blend, using the tamper to keep everything moving. You will need to switch the machine off occasionally and use a plastic spatula to stir the mixture.

When the mixture is smooth and creamy with no chunks remaining serve immediately as a soft serve ice, or transfer to a freezer-proof container to freeze for a few more hours for a harder ice.

Have a look at the music video my husband over at Audioboy Productions and I made with our blender. All the sounds in this video were obtained from the blender itself and manipulated to make the sound track. We hope you enjoy it!

You can read our full Optimum 9400 review here. Visit the official Optimum 9400 website here.

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Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. This is not a paid post and all opinions expressed are our own. Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary is a Froothie Optimum 9400 ambassador, which means if you like the blender and choose to buy one through the links on this page we will get a small commission. This purchase helps support our family! Thank you 🙂

Love your recipe. Will try that soon. I read many recipes online and videos too when I first got my OpTim um 9400 but our favourite ice cream recipe is one I came up with while testing different flavours. It’s coffee walnut ice cream. I use 1 handful of raw cashews , a frozen chopped up banana, 5 medjool dates, 2 heaped tsp coffee granules, handful of walnuts and ice (1 tray of my size large cubes). Blitz using tamper to push ice cubes down into mix and all done in under a minute. No added fats or dairy or refined sugars so great for us vegans. Thought you might like to give it a go. Thanks again for your recipe.

I love the colour! Something similar happened to me the other week – went to make a smoothie but the blender wouldnt work – convinced it was broken I put it in the wheelie bin outside. Turned out it was the socket and not the blender. Thank God the bin men hadnt arrived yet!

This sounds lovely. I treated myself to the coconut milk ice-cream book (I’m dairy and soya intolerant) and I keep meaning to have a go but I’m not an ice-cream in cold weather gal. I’ve a horrid feeling my ice-cream maker is also on it’s last legs, it was getting quite temperamental last time I used it. Very envious of your super blender – I’m about half way saved up for one. I will come back and find this again for sure. 🙂

This sounds so great. Healthy and full of goodness. I’m glad to learn about the overheat switch – I love my Froothie as well.Kate @ Veggie Desserts recently posted…Pineapple and Carrot Upside Down Cake

Where is this summer you speak of?! I was kept awake the other night with howling gales. I woke up thinking the walls were coming down! 😀 You lucky south folk you!Elizabeth recently posted…Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

Wow, that was some scare you had there but luckily it all worked out in the end. Your ice cream pics look so pretty and I bet it tasted fabulous too:-) Thanks for linking to my Strawberry Vanilla Ice:-)

OOOooooo…… Scary moment there!!!! Thank goodness for the safety mechanism…… How great is that?! The ice cream looks delicious…. Lovely photos (especially the one in the tin) and beautiful colour. How did you manage to get it to stay looking so perfectly scooped and frozen whilst you took the pics?Kate – gluten free alchemist recently posted…Goats Cheese Stuffed Cherry Bomb Chillies

It really was scary (I nearly cried!). Still, I suppose it’s good that bloggers discover these things and can reassure folks! As for perfectly scooped… well, you’ll notice in the top photo the ice in the bottom is somewhat melted? My first set up melted on me without a satisfactory photo so I plonked another on top – it was just at the right scoopable consistency – and I got that photo! 🙂 You’d never be able to serve this on an ice cream cone though.Elizabeth recently posted…Blackberry & Apple Skillet Breakfast Crumble

It is a really lovely soft pink colour. So natural 🙂 Yes, it is nice being able to make it so quickly – the most time consuming part is waiting for the coconut milk/strawberry to freeze!Elizabeth recently posted…The August 2014 Shop Local Round Up

I’ve never tried any other way. I developed this recipe specifically to be used with a high power blender. I wonder though… heating the coconut milk up and thickening it with arrowroot powder might work, then churning it in a food processor until frozen (unless you have an ice cream machine?). Ice cream is tricky to make without a machine, especially vegan ones.Elizabeth recently posted…Blackberry & Apple Skillet Breakfast Crumble

Thanks Sally – we are rather pleased with ourselves with how well it turned out. It’s nice when something you can envision in your head comes to fruition 🙂Elizabeth recently posted…Rum & Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

I did think of that when I named it, but I couldn’t decide what else to call it. It’s not ice cream because it doesn’t contain cream (and it’s not creamy) nor is it a sorbet as it contains coconut milk. It’s a coconut ice 😀Elizabeth recently posted…Four Cheese Chargrilled Chicken Pasta Bake

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